Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Picayunish

One needs only to attend a regular meeting of the Nevada County Quorum Court of a budget meeting to find that if Nevada County were an individual or a business, it would have already filed bankruptcy.

While the current administration (other than a few JPs) have had little to do with the sad shape of the county's finances, a conservative move to better provide for the county's future is finally being worked out.

If you removed the debts owed by the now defunct Nevada County Hospital, the county is still strapped for funds though it's finding you can get along on less when needed.

Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown has had a lot to do with the no nonsense, common sense approach to "making do with what you have" method of surviving on limited funds. It's a stance that many of us could learn from and thereby profit.

Unfortunately for Brown, his fight is not over and it could continue long after he has left office.

As Prescott and Nevada County join to build a new library with the $1 million funding provided by the state coffers (courtesy of Congressman-elect Mike Ross) one must wonder how we plan to pay for the library once the new building is erected.

Of course, we will not have to pay back the funds which will be used to construct the building. But, we must fund everything else involved with the library.

Currently your tax dollars pay the library's way. Specifically, .3 mills are used to fund it. Realize now that a mill is one-tenth of a penny. Again this translates to about $18,000 a year.

This $18,000 pays the utilities, the librarian's salary (the only paid employee) equipment, upkeep and other things you see and find in your local 2,000-sq.-ft. library.

Now imagine spending $18,000 a year when your facility reaches 5,000, 6,000 or even 7,000 sq. ft. You can't keep your expenses the same when your building size increases. In fact, in a new facility you constantly find new things are needed to remain open.

Common sense, we hope, will prevail by the Library Building Committee and all parties involved as we prepare to build a new structure. We hope not to have another nice empty structure empty (i.e. Nevada County Hospital) because it was not supported by its citizens.

Judge Brown is looking to the future of Nevada County. We should look with him and see that prosperity is hard to come by and prosperity for Nevada County (its tax base) still needs growth.

He is for growth and progress as we all are. But how much progress can the county afford when its tax base shrinks due to expanding annexation by the city of Prescott, which reduces the county's overall tax receipts during the year.

I'm not speaking for Judge Brown. I'm speaking only for myself as a citizen worried about my family, my business and our growth in Prescott and Nevada County.